Items such as garments are organized, stored, displayed, and offered for sale typically by supporting them on hangers and placing those hangers on racks. A wide variety of garment racks are available for this purpose. Garment racks may include members having elements that may extend relative to another so that the rack may be adjusted to accommodate garments of different sizes and lengths or simply to organize, store, or display the garments in alternative patterns.
Certain of such adjustable garment racks include an inner tube sized and shaped to slide within a hollow outer tube and such that the total length provided by the combination of the inner and outer tube may be adjusted as needed and a sleeve by which the relative positions of the inner tube and outer tube may be releasably locked. A locking sleeve of this type is taught in Patent No. EP 610707 assigned to Umdasch Shop-Systems GmbH. This known locking sleeve is shown as being used with a system that includes an inner tube and outer tube each of which is sized and shaped such that the outer surface of the inner tube is in slidable generally contiguous contact with the inner surface of the outer tube. The known sleeve includes a wall that is sized and shaped to extend completely around a portion of the inner tube. The sleeve is positioned adjacent to an upper end of the outer tube. The sleeve wall is taught as having a thickness such that the outer surface of the sleeve is not even with but projects above the outer surface of the wall of the outer tube. The known locking sleeve includes a raised area on an inner side of the front portion of the locking sleeve wall that is shaped in the form of a wedge or a cup. The shaped raised area includes a support surface that can catch the top portion of the wall that forms each of the holes that open along one face of the inner tube--such as when the inner tube is released after being drawn outward from the outer tube. The shaped raised area includes also a tapered wall that extends from the support surface to the outer face of the locking sleeve wall such that when the inner tube is raised the bottom portion of the wall that forms the inner tube wall holes engages the tapered surface and biases the locking sleeve upward so that it pivots--such as at a pivot point--thereby freeing the inner tube so that it can be raised.
In order that the position of the inner tube relative to the outer tube releasably fixed by this known sleeve can be raised, one operator must grasp the inner tube with one hand. By raising the inner tube, the engagement of the inner tube hole wall with the locking sleeve causes a portion of the locking sleeve to pivot upward and from the locking position. Releasing the inner tube causes the locking sleeve to pivot in the opposite direction and the wall forming one of the inner tube holes to come to catch and rest on the support surface of the shaped raised area.
However, in order that the position of the inner tube relative to the outer tube releasably fixed by this known sleeve can be lowered, one operator must grasp the inner tube with one hand and the same or another operator must grasp the outer surface of the locking sleeve and raise it a sufficient distance so that the shaped raised area and particularly the support surface of the sleeve is spaced away from the outer surface of the inner tube and no longer locking the portions of the two tubes. The inner tube may then be lowered to the desired height and the known sleeve released to releasably fix. the positions of the tubes again.
Such embodiments of known locking devices that do not include a feature to allow an operator to easily and safely manipulate the position of the locking device with a minimum contact of the operator's hand with the locking device. Such embodiments can present a danger to the operator. An operator can grasp the outer surface of the known locking device to move it in an non-engaging position without thinking what will occur when the inner tube is released. When released, the inner tube can catch the raised surface of the locking sleeve thereby causing it to pivot downward. If the operator happens to have a finger or fingers or other part of the operator's hand adjacent to and along the lower portion of the locking sleeve, the pivoting action can cause the operator's finger or fingers or other portion of the operator's hand to be pinched between the locking device and the outer tube. The pinching effect can be particularly harmful to the operator if the inner tube was supporting a considerable weight when released by the operator.
Such embodiments that require the operator to make considerable contact with the surface of the locking sleeve can also require additional clean up steps after the sleeve is released and the tubes are fixed in position. Often times when the tubes are part of a display system, the tubes, as does the locking sleeve, have a shiny surface such as a chrome surface. Such a surface easily shows up finger prints or handprints. The prints on the known sleeve typically must be cleaned off to maintain the appearance of the shiny surface.
Embodiments of the locking devices of known adjustable garment racks that include complex shaped components such as the wedge-shaped or cup-shaped raised area may be more costly to manufacture because of the greater amount of time required to produce the complex structures without error.
Embodiments of the locking devices of known adjustable garment racks that include complex shaped components that are used with a combination of inner tube and outer tube in which the outer surface of the inner tube is in generally contiguous contact with the inner surface of the outer tube may not be able to operate as expected with other combinations of inner tube and outer tube in which the tubes are not in general contiguous contact but instead largely spaced apart from each other.
Embodiments of the locking devices of known adjustable garment racks that include a surrounding sleeve wall that has a thickness that is greater than that of the outer tube of the rack may be overall more costly to manufacture also because of the greater amount of material that is required and may be overall heavier.
Further, such embodiments of known locking devices that include a sleeve wall that is thicker than the wall of the outer tube appears to have an added on, less integral appearance relative to the other components of the rack than would a locking device having an outer surface that is generally even with the surface of the outer tube.
A demand therefore exists for an improved locking device that is safe and simple to operate and maintain, is generally simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and is sized and shaped to appear generally integral with the surface of the outer tube. The present invention satisfies this demand.